The present invention is directed at a system and method for packaging a sensor for a vehicle safety system into a vehicle structure. In particular, for placing a sensor in a location in the side of the vehicle such as, for example, the vehicle door.
Conventional vehicle safety systems include those systems that are configured to protect vehicle occupants against collision with certain structural components of the vehicle (such as a lateral wall or window pane). Safety systems typically include a sensor configured to sense certain vehicle characteristics. The sensor output may be provided to a controller, processor or circuit which is configured to control the activation of certain safety devices such as, for example, an airbag. Sensors have included potentiometers, accelerometers, strain gauges, Hall effect sensors coupled to a magnetic circuit, and so forth.
The sensor may be mounted in a vehicle door or behind another vehicle-exterior panel. Most vehicle doors include an interior portion and an exterior portion. The exterior portion is a part of the outer shell of the vehicle and is usually composed of sheet metal (or other ferrous or electrical conducting material). The interior portion is configured to include various user controls and other vehicle features. The present application discloses means to mount various types of sensors within the door of a vehicle using suitably designed door modules, thereby making possible an improved side-impact vehicle safety system and simplifying door assembly by reducing the number of subassemblies being installed.
A sensor may be attached to the door module via various types of fasteners which can include serrated fasteners (e.g., “tree fasteners”), threaded fasteners, rivets, and the like. The sensors may be placed in various locations in the vehicle in order to obtain reliable measurements that may be used to control the activation of a vehicle safety device. In the past, manual assembly has been required to attach these sensors with respect to the vehicle door. Moreover, the structural rigidity of the attachment of the attachment of the sensor to the door module of the vehicle door is limited by the robustness of the fastener utilized. Therefore, the quality of the fastener (and associated costs) can significantly influence the reliability of the sensor mounting and overall manufacturing costs of the passenger safety device.
There is a general need for an improved structure and arrangement for mounting of a sensor in a vehicle door.